Related Stories

They’ve turned in two of their worst games of the season, getting throttled by a combined 10-1 margin.

Against an Eastern Conference bottom-feeder, no less.

At home, if you can believe it.

Offensive creativity has disappeared, the power play has gone into the tank and confidence is wearing thinner than fly paper.

The perfect time to get on the ice for a rare practice in this lockout-shortened sprint to the playoffs, right?

Not quite.

It turns out Winnipeg Jets head coach Claude Noel wasn’t joking when, after Friday’s 6-1 shellacking by the Capitals, he suggested his players go to the movies and forget about hockey for a day.

Better to recharge the batteries — mental, emotional and physical — especially with another challenge Sunday, in the form of another scary-because-they’re-struggling team, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“We just finished five in seven,” Noel said. “You wear down. It’s emotional. It’s pressure. And it’s very constant. You’d like to practise... you look at some things we did in the game you could practise — the power play, for example. Some of the skill stuff. But not at the (expense) of the energy in the game.”

So Noel sent them off in all directions, with the hope they’d come back having rediscovered their zeal, their mojo. Their game.

And if you think they were going to race home, park themselves in front of the flat screen and study the tendencies of the Lightning — who were being defeated in Ottawa— well, think again.

An informal survey of the activities planned for Saturday suggests work was going to be the last thing on their minds.

“I don’t watch too much hockey when I’m away from the rink, to be honest with you,” Zach Bogosian said.

Bogosian’s favourite way to get way from it all is with a rifle in his hands.

As for whether he’d actually go hunting, Saturday: “Maybe,” he said (note to self: stay off streets in No. 44’s neighbourhood).

Bryan Little wasn’t in the mood to watch a game, either.

Playing one every other night is enough, thanks.

“It’s wear and tear on your body and wear and tear on your mind,” Little said. “And every game’s a big game. There’s a lot of bumps and bruises and you don’t really get time to heal those in a season like this.”

If the Jets spent Saturday thinking about hockey they’d wind up beating themselves up over getting beat up two nights in a row.

“I’ve always been able to move on relatively quickly,” Ron Hainsey said. “It’s important to do that, especially this year.”

Especially with another eight games over the next 14 days, including five on the road and two against Carolina, that other turtle in the Southeast derby.

If the Jets’ confidence is as shelled as it looked, it’s probably best to crawl into their shells for a day.

“The danger is dwelling on the negatives and letting that pull you down,” Andrew Ladd said. “You look at the big picture, we’re still first in our division and done a lot of good things to put ourselves in this spot. Everyone in here believes we have the players to do it.”

Ladd has the perfect escape from the game.

He planned to go home and make baby talk with his new son, far more rewarding than blubbering about what happened Thursday and Friday.

“It’s a great escape,” Ladd said. “Before he was born it was more hockey, hockey, hockey — that’s all I really thought about. Now he’s on my mind all the time. To be able to go home and see his little face and watch him develop is just awesome.”

Who knows, maybe dad can coax the first smile out of the little Ladd this weekend.